Three Years Sober
by EagerImmediately
Summary: Following the events of Cascade, Karkat, Gamzee and Tavros join Jade on the Prospitan ship for some much needed rehabilitation.


"honk."

Tavros' eyes fluttered slightly, refusing to open despite his desire to. All he felt was blinding pain all over his body, and he didn't know where it came from. Only that it felt like he'd seriously messed up somewhere. But he couldn't remember just where.

His head wouldn't budge, and it caused the young troll to panic for a moment, thinking something terrible had happened once again. Only so much worse this time. But his fingers could wriggle a bit, so it seemed he hadn't suffered another break.

He could hear soft muttering, or at least, he thought he could.

Gog, was Vriska still around? Images cropped up in his groggy memory, of her coming at him with his own lance, of falling. Tavros sniffed slightly, trying to move his head again as a series of shudders wracked his body.

STUPID STUPID STUPID.

He'd just been, so sick and tired of taking the abuse, he'd just wanted to show her just once that he could stand up for himself. That he wouldn't have to keep taking it now that he could walk again. That she couldn't keep getting away with all the bad things she did.

Yeah right.

Like he'd ever compare to her. Or any of them. He'd been a failure since he'd been hatched, and this was just more proof of that. That even with all the help he could possibly have, it would _never_ be enough. That he was more burden than troll. But it hurt too much to really cry about it and he still could hardly open his eyes, everything felt so heavy...

"HONK."

* * *

Jade had been given more than her fair share; that much was certain.

Her abilities should have been limited to manipulating inanimate objects and controlling the velocity at which they traveled, but Bec's powers gave her quite the advantage. She could transport and move just about anything. Not only did she reach Godtier – which she worked very hard to do, thank you very much -, but she had become a Guardian.

And it seemed really, really unfair.

"John, I've lived on my own my entire life – really, it's okay. Besides, I'm not alone, not really! Look!"

She summoned the salamanders, the crocodiles, citizens of Derse and Prospit, even Davesprite and Nanna. What John couldn't seem to understand was that Jade was never really alone to begin with. She'd grown up blanketed in the affection of her trusty sidekick, and now would be no different.

"They could probably use you more than I could. It'd be selfish to keep you locked up in limbo."

John looked uncertain. "I dunno… "

Jade prepared the portal, a feat she was sure she could not keep up. She allowed a nearly transparent view of herself and through her John could see all their friends on the meteor. The longer she held the portal, the more drained she felt. As the Green Sun crept away from her, Bec's gift proved useless outside of their own planets.

"John, if you're going to make the jump, you have to hurry. And I mean hurry!"

He looked flighty, and just a tad bit anxious. "So I just step through you?"

"Yes, just step through me."

John inched forward, dipping his foot into the void cautiously. It sucked him by his leg, turning him upside down and threw him every which way. In the darkness, he thrashed. His breath caught in his throat. John reached for a handhold he knew he would never find.

The void spat him out, finally. He had difficulty finding his feet, let alone his balance. He decided to use nether, lifting himself off the ground with a gentle breeze.

"Remind me to never fly Jade Airlines…"

"I heard that!"

John turned around. Behind him stood Jade's silhouette, her back turned to him. He ran a quick circle around her, noting how going through one end landed on you on the other. He then wondered where a side would get you, but decided he'd rather not test his theory.

John spotted her hands sharply angled on her hips, her playfully bitter stance. He gave his neck an awkward rub. "Heh, sorry, I appreciate the ride, but I'd really rather not do that ever again."

John found his friends already huddled into small groups. He gave a small wave.

"Hey, guys. Jade has to stay on the ship because of technical difficulties, so it's just me."

"Oh great, just what we need," Karkat muttered more to himself than anyone else. His hands were shaking and he knew he was close to having a complete mental breakdown. Everywhere he looked, there were either bloodstains, dead bodies, or sickening chemistry between humans and trolls. Now they had a John to top it all off.

His mind reeled at the thought of the coming scratch that they were apparently just managing to avoid. And it was going to amount to absolutely NOTHING.

Zero.

Zilch. Everything he'd done trying to keep it all together made so little a difference Karkat couldn't see a point anymore. Feferi, Equius, Nepeta, Eridan, Vriska, all wasted in mere hours. Sollux and Tavros had barely made it as it was. Kanaya was a goddamned mystery. And Gamzee? A fucking miracle. A bloody, awful miracle that he'd even managed to stop the nut. They were all going to _murder _each other on this rock regardless of what he tried to do. This could work or not, but they were all doomed anyway. And that thought was freaking him right the fuck out.

He had to get away. He needed to breathe, to think. To not be here, failing over and over again and only having himself to blame. Literally.

"Does that damned thing go both ways!?"

"I am not a _thing_, Karkat." Jade protested, feeling the tiniest bit agitated. Serving as a gate or not, she was still her. She could understand that her visage suggested otherwise, but she still had feelings under all that temporarily spacey exterior. "But yes. It does."

Jade was honestly shocked that anyone _wanted_ to come back through. Wouldn't he be happier on the asteroid? Wouldn't they _all_ be happier there?

She decided it best not to voice her concern for the sake of time. "You have to hurry, though; I really don't know how much longer I can keep it up. I'm already getting kind of tired."

John frowned. Part of the reason he'd left Jade behind was to see his new friends, friends like Karkat – and now he was probably thinking about leaving him. John wasn't regretting the decision just yet, though; he still had Dave and Rose, and the handful of other trolls.

He couldn't exactly deny Jade a friend of her own, either.

"Well, if you're leaving already, don't say I didn't warn you – hold your breath. That… Jade is one heck of a flight."

It was then and only then that John began to notice the plethora of deceased trolls scattered on the ground. _Oh._

Karkat was already striding towards it before Jade finished her sentence, pushing down the hysterics. But he stopped short, looking back at the group who for the most part, looked nonplussed over his action.

His mouth went dry as he suddenly felt like the lowest form of filth possible. Until he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and the anger was back all too fast.

No that bastard wasn't.

"You know what? Change of plan! You're coming with too, yeah you you murderous honking fucktool. You're coming with me because there's a good chance that that side has no corpses lying around for you to desecrate!"

The troll in question seemed startled at the sudden order before everyone turned to him and he promptly dropped Sollux's body, looking almost as put out as Sollux was seeing this in action. Karkat could see Kanaya gripping her chainsaw even tighter and yelled at Gamzee to pick the fucking pace up as he slinked by Tavros on the floor.

The timid troll had been watching everything unfold with increasing bewilderment. "w-Wait!"

Karkat whipped around at that, eyes just that side of wild. Tavros flinched at the look, wondering if Karkat was more scared than he was letting on. "Let me...I mean to say, that you can probably have another troll or person with you to... Can I come too?"

"Does a brother need this motherfucking hand?"

And Gamzee was already squatting down by Tavros, both of them making quite the sight, covered in blood. Karkat looked back at the portal worriedly, noticing it flicker in and out "I DIDN'T SAY THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A GODDAMNED FIELD TRIP. Just hurry up!"

Understandably, Tavros didn't seem too thrilled at the option he'd been presented, but there wasn't much choice, Karkat sure as hell wasn't about to pick him up. And this way, he could burden everyone less. Grabbing onto Gamzee's shoulders, he let the gangly troll lift him up, his broken leg still dragging across the ground as they made their way to the portal, walking through.

"Guys..." John started, his eyes tracing over each troll before landing on his friends. "What even happened here?"

Dave gave a shrug, and Terezi a solemn, jerky shake of her head. Rose looked deep in thought as she studied the catastrophe. Kanaya was enraged, her murderous eyes following the small trail of trolls that made their way through Jade's quaking torso.

John soon became anxious. Maybe staying here wasn't the best idea after all, maybe what they all actually needed to do was stay on the ship. He turned to suggest so, but fell just short of the time Jade had been allotted. Her shadow gave one last irritated tremor before dying out completely.


End file.
